This invention relates to hand tools, and more particularly to "striking tools" such as pin punches, cold chisels, nail sets, center punches, leather punches, drifts, etc., i.e. tools which are designed to be struck at one end, typically by a hammer, to transmit the force of the blow at the other end. More specifically, this invention relates to a deflector grip for such tools that will protect the user's hand from errant blows of the hammer.
There have been attempts to provide striking tools that incorporate a deflector feature. U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,362 discloses a complex protective guard means on a striking tool. The structure disclosed is not optimally designed to actually deflect the blow away from the user's hand. Instead, the structure disclosed is directed to absorb the impact of an errant blow.
Some traditional tools have deflector means that lack structural strength to actually deflect an errant hammer blow. Moreover, those traditional tools that had a resilient deflector, lacked a balanced weight design and/or had a bulky deflector that undesirably added additional weight to the tool. The result was a grossly disproportionate heavier top portion and a lighter bottom portion. These designs also suffered in that the combination of the deflector and striking tool lacked a truly integrated design. Finally, prior deflector designs restricted a clean view of the tool bottom end's alignment with the workpiece.
In the application of striking tools, there is always a need for a good gripping surface for the user. Finally, there is a cost motivation for desiring a simple design that would not incur significant additional manufacturing costs for the striking tool.